AJ Green named MVC Player of the Year for second time, Born earns Sixth Man honors, Carter second team recognition

ST. LOUIS --- The Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) announced the recipients of the league's men's basketball specialty awards on Tuesday. UNI's AJ Green has been named the 2022 Larry Bird MVC Player of the Year, while Bowen Born has been selected as the league's Sixth Man of the Year. Noah Carter joins his teammates in earning Second Team All-MVC honors.

Green led the MVC this season with 21.2 points per game in league play while averaging 37.2 minutes a game. The Cedar Falls, Iowa native posted a league-best 94.2% mark at the free throw line in conference only games, and scored 30+ points in 4 games this year, including 3 in MVC play. Green's stellar shooting at the charity stripe was highlighted by a streak of 48 consecutive made free throws, a personal record that tied the fifth longest streak in MVC history. One of the league's top shooters from distance, Green also led the conference with 52 made three-point field goals, averaging 3.1 in league action.

Green's selection as the league's top player marks the second time in three seasons that the junior guard has earned the honor, becoming the first Panther to win multiple Larry Bird Trophies in program history, and the tenth player in MVC history to earn two Player of the Year honors. It is the seventh time a UNI player has been named the conference's most valuable player, following Jason Daisy (1997), Adam Koch (2010), Seth Tuttle (2015) and Green himself (2020). UNI had two North Central Conference (NCC) MVP's in Pete Spoden (1962) and Craig Kneppe (1965).

Born, who was named the MVC's Freshman of the Year last season, scored 7.6 points per game playing in 26 games this year with one start. Honorees as the league's top reserve player must have started fewer than 25 percent of his team's total games – in all or in conference only play. Averaging 24 minutes a game with 51 assists, the Norwalk, Iowa native recorded a season-high 20 points and career-high 6 free throws to help the Panthers clinch the MVC's regular season title against Loyola-Chicago in the final game of the season, highlighted by a critical three-point shot in the closing minute of overtime.

Born is the fifth Panther to be named the MVC's Sixth Man of the Year in school history, and first since Spencer Haldeman in 2019. Previous recipients of the award from UNI include Lucas O'Rear (2009-2010) and Wes Washpun (2015).

Carter ranked fifth in scoring in MVC play with 17.1 points per game, notching 15 or more points in 14 of UNI's 18 conference games. The Dubuque, Iowa native scored a career-high 33 points on Jan. 19 at Valparaiso as part of his third career double-double in a breakout season that saw his season scoring average improve by 3.6 points from the year prior. Carter shot an impressive 49.2% from the field this season and made 85 free throws, second only to AJ Green on the stat sheet, while also averaging 4.0 rebounds a game and a team-high 12 blocks.

Green, Born, Carter and the entire UNI men's basketball team will return to action on Friday, March 4 as the Panthers open up play at the MVC Tournament in St. Louis at 12 p.m. CT. The top-seeded Panthers will face the winner of Thursday night's opening round matchup between Illinois State and Indiana State at the Enterprise Center.

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AJ Green named MVC Player of the Year for second time, Born earns Sixth Man honors, Carter second team recognition

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Bowen Born

Noah Carter

AJ Green

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